For art, in art
Ziraat Bank has supported economic and social development on the basis of integration with the public since the early years of the Republic, and always served as an example and a pioneer by overcoming the various problems and challenges in the first years of the Republic. Representing the action program which was behind Turkey’s economic development in an architectural monument with the construction of the Ulus Headquarters Building, Ziraat Bank views its contribution to the cultural, artistic and social development of our country as one of its main duties.
Collecting works of art with an awareness of collecting since its foundation, Ziraat Bank has succeeded in bringing together an artistic accumulation which we can be proud of on behalf of our country. The Ziraat Bank Collection, which covers all fields of fine arts and includes works of art created in line with the trends which have passed since its establishment, is of tremendous importance with its quality which documents the history of art in our country.
Bringing contemporary and creative strength to our society with art
In order to share works of art by carrying them outside the institution and to make art accessible, since 1926 Ziraat Bank has integrated its support to art and artists with the slogan “For art, in art”, and for this purpose, works of art in the collection have been placed on exhibition at various times, as well as art galleries which were opened for art lovers.
The oldest of these works, whose transformation into a collection spans a wide period of time, is the oil painting dated 1897 named “Otlak (Pasture)”, bearing the signature of Hadfiela Cubley. The painting, named “Çulha (Weaver)”, by Mehmet Ruhi Arel, completed in 1926, was brought from the Kütahya Branch and started to be exhibited in the Bank’s Museum. On the other hand, the oil painting, “Gazi Mustafa Kemal Çiftçiler Arasında (Gazi Mustafa Kemal Among Farmers)” (450x500 cm) by the painter Namık İsmail, which was commissioned to be placed in the stairwell of the Ankara Head Office Building, dates back to 1929. The painting, “Harman (Harvest)”, located in the building’s hall of honor and bearing the signature of İbrahim Çallı, is a specially made masterpiece with a size of 450x530 cm.
The Ziraat Bank Collection includes the works of artists who follow modernism trends from romantic landscape sensibility to impressionist and symbolist interpretations; from expressionist approaches to the pursuit of cubism, breakthroughs which the Paris School added to the abstract movement, tainted abstractions and geometric abstract expressions to compositions based on traditional sources, and from social realities to modern breakthroughs.
The works of masters such as the Artists of the Ottoman Painters Union, Hoca Ali Rıza (1864-1930), Mehmet Ruhi Arel (1880-1931), Mehmet Ali Laga (1878-1947), Şevket Dağ (1876-1944), Feyhaman Duran (1886-1970), Hikmet Onat (1882-1977), Hayri Çizel (1891-1950), Hasan Vecih Bereketoğlu (1895-1971), Ali Rıza Beyazıt (1883-1964), İbrahim Safi (1889-1983), Eşref Üren (1897-1984), Cemal Tollu (1899-1968), Nurullah Berk (1906-1982), Nuri İyem (1915-2005) and Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu (1913-1975) are considered among the most valuable masterpieces in the Collection.
The Ziraat Bank Collection also includes universal sculptures by Kuzgun Acar, the famous artist of the abstract period of Turkish Sculptural Art, with abstract compositions which push the boundaries of material, technique and design; as well as Hüseyin Gezer’s abstract geometric figurative interpretations, Eyüp Öz’s sculptures which present an abstract depiction of the women’s world, Bihrat Mavitan’s relief-sculpture samples and Remzi Savaş’s material-sculptures emphasizing the materialist structure of weight measurements.
The Collection carefully archives the works of the Turkish Painters of the Republican Period and hundreds of artists who have produced works in abstract form, a figurative understanding of art, social realist, surrealist, naive and smudge works and also have works in the new figuration tendency and the pop genre and produced works in their own unique styles since 1950. The Collection also offers reproductions and calendars with prints and carries out all kinds of activities which support the promotion of our culture and illustrates the historical development of Turkish painting and sculpture art dating back 300 years.
Ziraat Bank Art Galleries
Painting and sculptural exhibitions are displayed in Tünel in İstanbul, and in the Kuğulu and Çukurambar Art Galleries in Ankara. Reaching more than 2,500 works, the works bought from these exhibitions, which are mostly oil paintings in addition to watercolours, gouache, pastel, prints, ceramics and sculptures, continue to enrich the Ziraat Bank Art Collection.
Turkey’s First Banking Museum
The Ziraat Bank Museum is the first banking Museum in Turkey, exhibiting the long history of Ziraat Bank, which has witnessed almost every stage of the Republic.
The Ziraat Bank Museum was opened in 1981 in the Honor Hall on the ground floor of the Ziraat Bank General Directorate Building. The building was built in 1929 by the Italian architect, Giulio Mongeri, in the Ulus district of Ankara, and is one of the structures of the First National Architectural Period. The museum aims to carry the Bank’s know-how and experience to the future.
The Ziraat Bank Museum demonstrates the commercial, economic, political, cultural, artistic and educational changes of the Turkish banking system from its beginnings right up to the present day, as well as the progress made over the years from the past to present, and it exhibits several antique artifacts which represent these features and which were once used in the banking system, in a historic setting.
After the completion of the restoration work on the historic building, which started in 2017, the Ziraat Bank Museum was expanded with the inclusion of the basement on the ground floor and enriched with digital elements in line with the approach of being a modern museum, and the revamped museum opened its doors to visitors again in November 2019.
